Reports of superstar forward Kristaps Porzingis giving the Knicks an ultimatum were confirmed by team president Steve Mills on Wednesday.
Mills and GM Scott Perry were on hand for a fan forum series on Wednesday afternoon, and Mills acknowledged that Porzingis gave the Knicks an ultimatum as he announced he wanted to be traded, confirming earlier reports in the days after the trade.
Interesting new information on the Porzingis trade from today's JPM speaker event with Scott Perry and Steve Mills
- #Knockstape (@KnicksGuy1) May 22, 2019
KP threatened to go back to Europe if not traded within 7 days
Scott and Steve had trade offers lined up dating back to last September pic.twitter.com/JGp1EQQrUV
"When he walked into our office -- my office and Scott was sitting there with me -- and point blank said to us, 'I don't want to be here, I'm not going to re-sign with the Knicks, and I'll give you seven days to try and trade me or I'm going back to Europe,'" Mills explained.
At the time of the trade, it was reported that Porzingis was unhappy with how the Knicks were progressing during their rebuild and, along with his brother/manager Janis, he made the request before the trade deadline.
The Knicks eventually found a home in the Mavericks for the 7-foot-3 Latvian, and the deal was done rather quickly thanks to the second piece of information Mills divulged on the crowd. He said the team was working behind the scenes to set up a few scenarios where they could deal players since the start of the season, and Porzingis was one of them.
"Fortunately for us, through that process that we talked about at the start of September, we had a number of deals lined up," he said.
Since he has been traded, Porzingis hasn't been in the best news spotlight. The most recent incident came in his home country where he was seen bloodied up outside a club following an assault. He had blood on his forehead and his shirt was ripped in the video that circulated. Then, there was the alleged sexual assault case that occurred while Porzingis was still a Knicks, where ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported the team was asked to "mediate."
This is all in the past, though, as the Knicks look to the future of their franchise in free agency and the NBA Draft this offseason.